. Compare the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution. Which document did a better job of protecting liberties? Running a government? Explain your answer with specific examples.

The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution are only six years apart in history. Knowing this you would think that they have very few differences but it is the complete opposite. As soon as the Articles of Confederation were ratified, it got everyone thinking about how to create a good system of government. That is where the Constitution came in. The Constitution changed almost everything from the Articles of Confederation making the national government a lot more powerful.

The Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781. The goal of the Articles was to balance the need for national coordination of the War of Independence with the fear that centralized political power was a threat to liberty of the people. The Articles stated that the new national government was to be a "perpetual union." The Articles gave the thirteen states their individual "sovereignty, freedom and independence." Under the Articles the national government had a one house Congress, where each state cast one vote. There was no president and no judiciary. Major decisions needed the approval of nine states to be passed. There were only a few powers given to the national government which were to declare war, conduct foreign affairs, and make treaties with other governments. Congress did not have financial resources. It did not have the power to levy taxes or to regulate commerce. Revenue came from contributions from the states and in order to amend an Article you needed a unanimous decision from the states. This made it hard to amend or to change anything. The Articles basically made it impossible to have a national government on a large scale.

The Constitution of the USA was adopted in 1787. The Constitution created a legislature, an executive, and a national judiciary. Congress was given the...

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Contents
From the years 1781 to 1789, the United States of America were governed under a document known as the Articles of Confederation. Prior to the ratification of today’s United States Constitution, this paper was the layout for the federal government that united the separate thirteen colonies in their movement for independence from Britain. It was put to the test as an effective form of command by a number of problems and...